Betrayals of Spring

by L. P. Dover

  I freeze in place, chain in hand, at the sound of laughter. It’s not coming from behind me, but... in front of me. I look up slowly and the dark sorcerer is looking back at me through Kalen’s eyes. That evil bastard. I was so close to having Kalen in my arms, and now it’s all over.

  I grab my bow and jump to my feet. He laughs the whole time as he makes his way out of the rest of the chains. He drops them to the floor and looks at me with a smug smile on his face. I scowl at him and narrow my eyes. He hasn’t bested me yet, and I plan on making it known.

  “I wouldn’t be smiling like that if I were you. If I am not mistaken, I have made it through all your little games unscathed. You haven’t won yet, sorcerer,” I snap.

  “Oh no?” he taunts raising his eyebrows. “I think I have won a lot, Princess. You may have gotten through the Tyvar and the Redcaps, but there is still one thing I know will haunt you for the rest of your life.” I stiffen because I know exactly what he’s going to say. He bites his lip while looking at my body up and down. “That’s right Princess. Knowing that I fucked you long and hard all those times will be embedded in your mind every single day.” He looks at me with a gleam in his eyes and smirks, “But that isn’t the only way I know I’ve won…”

  The sense of danger spikes my adrenaline and I quickly raise my bow when I see him reaching behind his back. “Easy there Princess,” he mocks with a devilish grin on his face. He pulls out two black gloves and begins sliding them on his hands. Why is he putting on gloves? My body trembles in fear because I can only think of one reason why he would need gloves being in a fae body.

  “You know you’re not going to shoot me, Meliantha. If you do you’ll kill your one true precious love, but then again, it would save me the trouble of doing it myself. Or better yet, you could always join me. I could stay in the prince’s body and it would be like nothing ever happened.”

  “I would rather rot in hell, and besides, I’ve seen what you do with your women,” I hiss.

  He shrugs his shoulders, “Breena deserved it, and I would say she fits in perfectly with the Tyvar. I’ll admit that I’m surprised you left her there. With the way you like being a martyr I figured you would do anything you could to save her.” I keep my attention focused on him and I still have my bow at the ready. I feel the warnings in my gut screaming at me that something is about to happen.

  I shake my head, “I’ll do anything to save the people I love. She was going to die anyway either by my hand or someone else’s.”

  He nods his head and narrows his eyes at me. “You’re a lot stronger than I thought. I’m going to give you a choice, Princess. Either come with me now and your prince lives, or you can deny me and he dies. Which choice do you want?”

  “I told you before. I would rather rot in hell!” I roar with venom in my voice.

  “Then I guess you’ve made your choice,” he decides.

  The dark sorcerer pulls out the iron dagger from behind his back. With the gloves on Kalen’s body they’ll be protected from the iron, but if he cuts him with it, it’ll spread in his blood and kill him in a matter of minutes. I’m frozen in place as the realization of what’s about to happen hits me like a ton of bricks. Deep in my soul I think I’ve always known he would never leave Kalen’s body, but I just wanted to believe that I could save him. The dark sorcerer lifts the dagger high facing it downwards. All he has to do is thrust it down and it will go right into Kalen’s heart. I begin to panic and the tears begin to fall as desperation consumes my body. I struggle to breathe as the thought of losing Kalen overtakes my mind. A life without him will be no life at all. I can’t lose him now, not when he’s right here in front of me. My power is strong, but I don’t know if it’s strong enough to save him from the iron poisoning if he were to be stabbed.

  “Would you like to give Kalen a kiss goodbye?” He asks with a sadistic grin. “I know I would love to taste you again.”

  Knowing he’s been intimate with me disgusts me to the core. The memories will stay with me forever and yes he was right when he said they’ll haunt me. I just always thought Kalen would be there to help me through it. I ignore his last question and close my eyes, taking in a deep breath. I have no choice with what I’m about to do because if I don’t, Kalen will die. I can’t leave him at the mercy of the dark sorcerer anymore. I believe in myself and in my power… I can do this. I will save you, Kalen, and this I promise you, I vow to myself wishing with all my heart that he could hear.

  I grip my bow tightly and take aim for Kalen’s chest. The dark sorcerer looks at me incredulous and laughs. “How does it feel to know you failed, Meliantha? I’m going to enjoy watching you scream when I take your prince away from you.”

  Even though I’m torn inside, I give him an evil grin and shake my head, “That’s where you’re wrong. Your game made me stronger instead of breaking me. I didn’t fail…you did! I hope you rot in the Black Forest!”

  The dark sorcerer’s eyes go wide and then everything begins to move in slow motion. He takes the dagger and begins to plunge it down into Kalen’s chest, but my swiftness with the bow beats him to it. Before the arrow hits, he looks into my eyes one last time. The roar he lets out is full of venom and malice when he’s thrust out of Kalen’s body with a vigorous force. The real Kalen screams in pain when he is returned to his body. He looks down at the arrow protruding out of his chest in anguish. I drop my bow and run over to him. I catch him in my arms before he falls to the ground, and I hastily remove the cuff around his arm. I throw it across the room before lying him down gently on the floor. He looks at the arrow and then back up to me with pain in his eyes.

  “I’m so sorry, Kalen,” I sob, tears streaming down my face. “I’m going to make you better. It was the only way to get him out of your body. He was going to kill you if I didn’t do it myself.” I pull the arrow out and he screams in pain. My hands are shaking uncontrollably as I place them over his chest. I concentrate with all my heart and soul on healing his wound. My arrows do not contain iron, but they still have the components of mine and Ashur’s blood making it a lethal weapon. The warmth of my magic builds inside my body until it is ready to burst forth. It flows from my fingers into Kalen’s chest and I can see the light of my magic being absorbed into his body.

  He reaches his hand up and places it on my cheek. His voice sounds raspy and weak when he whispers, “Thank you for saving me, Meliantha. Just know that I will always love you.” His skin color is turning white and his eyes are beginning to cloud over. No! This can’t be happening. I’m sending my power, but it looks like he’s getting worse.

  “Damn it, Kalen! You stay with me, you understand? I am not going to let you die! Stay with me…” I plead, screaming. I close my eyes to concentrate and I use every ounce of energy I have to search into the deepest depths of my magic. My true power is there and I can see it glowing bright and ready for the taking in my mind. I have finally found what I need to save Kalen. I grasp that power with all my heart because all that matters to me is healing Kalen no matter the consequences. He has to live.

  I pull the depths of my magic from my body and as I do the strength I once had has diminished to where there is nothing left. I give one final push to send that magic into Kalen’s body and when it does, the room explodes with the brightest light I have ever seen. My body is too weak to keep myself upright and I end up falling over beside Kalen. The end is close to coming and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I slowly turn my head to look at Kalen and he is frozen in place with his eyes closed. Tears are pouring down my cheek as I look at the man I tried desperately to save. I’m so sorry, my love. Please forgive me. I swallow hard and it takes all the strength I have left to whisper my final words.

  “I love you, Kalen.”

  I open my eyes slowly to a world of light. The air blowing around me smells fresh and clean and I notice that every single thing here is colored in all shades of white. The ground is white, the trees are white, and even the sky is white. I look down at my body an
d I myself am in a long, white dress. Am I in the Hereafter? How can I be in the Hereafter if I am alone? There should be other fae here as well, but as I look around there is no one. The landscape before me rolls on for miles and miles in all directions. How did I get here? I close my eyes to concentrate and that is when the memories begin to start flooding back. I fall to the ground in despair when the final memory of my life resurfaces. I remember seeing Kalen pale and motionless on the floor after he said his final words to me. I failed to save him and now he’s dead. How could I let this happen? I cry for what feels like an eternity until I hear the sound of the one voice I have been longing to hear.

  “Meliantha, please come back to me, my love.”

  “I’m here, Meliantha. I need you to find your way back.”

  “Kalen, where are you?” I call out uselessly. I don’t know how long I have been here, but every time I hear his voice I yell the exact same question. No matter how loud or how far I search, I never seem to get a response in return. It’s as if this is my punishment for not saving him. I still feel hope in my body, and that is what has been getting me through. What I don’t know is how I can hear him and not see him? He has to be here somewhere. I shout again, but only louder, “Kalen!”

  My voice echoes across the land, but still I am met with only silence. Determination flows through my body giving me a sense of purpose. If I have to spend the rest of my life searching for Kalen I will do it. Wherever this place is, I’m determined to find my way back to him. My heart aches to be with him again to tell him how sorry I’m for not being able to save him. I thought we would be together in the Hereafter, but maybe I am supposed to live out eternity alone since I failed to save him. No, I have to stop thinking like that, I yell at myself. I have to fight the sadness or I’ll never find my way. I look around the world where I’m clearly trapped, and I begin a determined pace to the hill of trees beyond. Something about the trees draws me to them so I’ll start my search there. I will find you, Kalen.

  - Dark Sorcerer -

  One Week Later

  “‘Tis there anything else ye want, Master?” the Redcap asks. He’s one of the Redcaps that turned on his clan and has now made his home here in the Black Forest. I’m now back here in my dwelling in the Black Forest resting up before the celebrations tonight. I’ve been here for the past week loading up on power from fae and humans that my army has abducted for me.

  “I’m fine for now, but bring me ten more mortals within the hour,” I demand.

  “Yes, Master.” The Redcap bows his head and blood drops down from his cap onto my bedroom floor. A trail of blood follows him as he leaves my room. I love blood, but I don’t want it all over my floor, especially mortal blood. The smell of it is pungent and disgusting, and the last thing I want is for it to be on my floor.

  “Gothin!” I call out. The troll walks in and bows his head. Out of all the servants I have he is the most loyal. Gothin was cast out of his tribe many years ago and has been a faithful servant to me ever since, even helping me with Calista’s capture several years ago.

  “What can I do for you, Master?” he asks. He looks around the floor and I think he already knows what I’m going to ask by the expression on his face.

  “Will you clean up that shit on the floor,” I say as I point to the floor. “The smell of mortal blood reeks of raw waste.”

  “I’ll do it right away, Master.” He cleans up the mess and shuts the door on his way out.

  When the bitch Meliantha ousted me out of the prince’s body it took everything out of me. I didn’t know her arrows were laced with hers and her guardian’s blood until I felt it pierce through my barriers. The pain was unbearable and it was worse than the pain I felt when Calista stabbed me with her dagger. The longer these women have their power the stronger I think they become. A week has passed and I still feel depleted. Now that the fae know I exist they have been confined to their courts for protection and not venturing out as much; therefore, I have been forced to taking mortal lives instead to sustain me. Their life force is weak, but it gives me power nonetheless.

  Also, during this week I’ve heard no news of what has passed. I sent my dwarf spy out yesterday to find out as much information as he could about what the courts are doing now. He left the dwarf Kingdom and I heard that Durin, the Dwarf leader, has his men out searching for him. He is to be sentenced to death if they ever find him. They eventually figured out he was the messenger that brought Finn’s cuff and Meliantha’s arrows to the Summer Court that fateful day. If I knew Meliantha’s arrows were fortified with blood then I would have confiscated them when I had the chance. I didn’t know Durin had made another guardian weapon other than the dagger.

  The pain of the arrow in my chest felt like molten lava being sent through my veins. After I was thrust out of the prince’s body I was able to stay long enough to see him and Meliantha lying lifeless on the floor before my spirit form was forced back to the Black Forest. My power is the strongest here and I am constantly pulled here when I am weak.

  A grand celebration has been planned for this evening in celebration of our victory. The Spring Court will never exist now that Meliantha is dead, and the prophecy will finally tilt in my favor. If the four courts cannot be formed that means my power will supersede all of theirs. I have waited over a hundred years for this victory, and once I get all the power I need from the Four I’ll be able to take over the Land of the Fae.

  My next step is to plan out how to get the next girl under my grasp. I saw her at the Winter Solstice Ball and her glow was just as bright as Meliantha’s. The power has to be taken in a certain order and now that I have Meliantha’s power the next girl’s power will be ready for the taking. It gets me hard and excited when I think about the things I’m going to make the royals do when I take over. It’s time like these that I wish Breena, or hell, even Meliantha was around so I could unleash my dark desires on them. I’m sure I will have no trouble finding another traitorous whore to fulfill my needs. I laugh thinking about it all until a knock at the door interrupts my humor.

  “Come in,” I answer in annoyance. It would be nice if I could have some peace and quiet for a while without someone bothering me.

  Gothin opens the door and ushers in the dwarf spy that I have been waiting anxiously to hear from. I can’t stop from smiling because I have been desperately waiting to hear how devastated the courts are over their dead kin. The dwarf has his head down when he enters and after a few minutes of silence my smile slowly begins to dissipate. The anger begins to build and my patience is running thin. He’s scared to tell me something and I must know now.

  “Tell me, dwarf. What news do you have from the courts?” I demand in annoyance.

  He looks up at me trembling with fear in his eyes. I don’t even have to hear it to know what he’s going to tell me because…I think I already know.

  The game is not over.

  “Meliantha, please come back to me,” I whisper.

  A week has gone by and nothing has changed. We’re now here in the Summer Court where Meliantha is in a strange slumber that she has yet to awaken from. She lies there motionless and detached while we wait anxiously for her to come back. After she saved me I have been by her side every minute of every day since then. Elvena will be here soon, along with Calista and Ryder, to try and help us get her back. She’s going to perform the dreamscape magic so we can enter into Meliantha’s mind. Elvena did the same spell years ago to communicate with Calista when she was captured. By doing this we’re hoping to communicate with Meliantha and somehow bring her back.

  Her hand still feels the same as mine when I pick it gently up from the bed. I hold her hand tight against my cheek so I can breathe in her intoxicating scent of flowers and the pureness of a spring rain. I squeeze my eyes shut to stop the tears that want to fall. Deep in my heart I want to believe I’ll get her back. She did everything to save me and now it is my time to do the same for her. Whatever it takes I will do it.

  I kiss her te
nderly on the hand and I lay it back gently on the bed to rest beside her lifeless body. I run my fingers through her lovely auburn red hair that’s fanned out across her golden satin sheets. It shines like the setting of the sun and it feels like silk as it glides across my skin. Her room is beautiful and not what I would have expected. I imagined a room full of purple and flowers, but that’s not what it is like in here at all. I guess I overdid it with the purple when I fixed her room at the winter cottage. I laugh at myself thinking just how ridiculous it must have looked to her. I’m sure we will have plenty of laughs about it when I get her back. Oh, how I long to have her back and in my arms. I miss her smile, her temper, and the way she would look at me with such fire and passion from those amazing amethyst eyes.

  A knock on the door grabs my attention and I turn to see Ashur entering Meliantha’s bedroom. He and Finn had found me just as I was carrying Meliantha through the portal. Apparently, she had chosen to find me on her own after being separated from them. She blocked her mind from Ashur so he couldn’t track her, but he tried anyway and that is how he and Finn were able to find us. He told me about the altercation with the Tyvar, but Meliantha never had the chance to explain how she was able to leave. He also told me about venturing through the Redcap camp and hearing about the special blood they had received from a beautiful princess. He and Finn were then able to track her pretty quickly from there and to the portal where they found me carrying her lifeless body in my arms.